They say you should date a lot of different people. Choosing a life partner is like choosing a pair of shoes. To find the perfect pair, you have to try on a lot of shoes, walk around in them, try them with and without socks, try them with different outfits. (I could keep running with this analogy, but you get the point.) So, my friends and I are trying on a lot of pairs of shoes right now.

I’ve taken a good friend’s lead on nicknaming guys with whom you are…let’s say…socializing. (I don’t want to use the word “dating” because it carries too much subjective connotation.) But when we’re talking about guys, and believe me, girls talk A LOT about guys—whether they’re friends, love interests, has-beens, a never-was, whatever— we often have to use pneumonic devices to remember which guy we’re actually talking about. With so many common names like Jon, Jeff, Dave, and Steve, we often forget who we’re dealing with in our conversations (especially among a group of 2 or more girls).

We don’t necessarily replace guys’ real names with the fake ones. We may just say…

“So I bumped into Dave the other day at the store…”
“Wait. Dave….Who is Dave again?”
“Dave? You remember. He’s the one with The Lips.”
“Ah, yes. Daaaave. Please go on…”

…and we’re all right back on the same page again and the story continues.

Below are some actual nicknames we’ve used in the past year.

Mr. Symphony
The Italian
The Beard
Max on Main
Lips
Hot One
The Golfer
Mistletoe Matt
Carson the Crush
Sweater Party Scott

Anyway, you get the point. It’s just an easy way to keep stories (both past and present) straight among girlfriends. (And if we get our heart broken over the guy, we can seperate ourselves from the emotional pain of a personal name and remember him only by an impersonal nickname.)

**So if you date Jenny or one of her friends and merit a nickname, you probably won’t ever know you had one.